Isaac's Cousin
by thebathroomcurator
Summary: After Isaac's father died, Sheriff Stilinski looked into his relatives and found an aunt living in New York. She and her teenage son come to live temporarily in Beacon Hills, taking custody of Isaac. There are all sorts of secrets in the Jackson house...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: this fic does use a lot of time jumps and action cuts. It's not fully developed enough to have anything except what I considered the heart of the story, so keep that in mind at the line breaks! **

* * *

"It took us awhile... but we did manage to track down a sister on your dad's side," Sheriff Stilinski was telling him. Isaac blinked in confusion, staring at the sheriff in disbelief. A sister? That wasn't right. He'd never known about any family at all besides his long dead grandparents. As far as he'd known, his dad was an only child. "Now, we've already contacted her and she said she was coming to meet you immediately. I understand you've been signed over to the custody of Derek Hale for now... Of course this does supercede that, so you will be returned to a family member."

"Who?" he asked, tugging at his scarf around his neck. It was the only word he could really struggle to get out for now. This was bad timing, with everything going on now. The Alpha pack... Erica and Boyd missing... He couldn't see things going worse. Now mysterious family members that he'd never heard of? That wasn't good. And if this sister was anything like his dad... He'd be better off with Derek. He wrapped his arms around himself and shivered, despite the warm principal's office. This was such bad timing. What if she moved him away from Beacon Hills? Sixteen was a long ways away from eighteen, when he could stay with his pack without any adult's say-so.

"Her name is Sally Jackson. As I understand it, she has a son your age." Sheriff Stilinski glanced at his watch. "She's flying in tonight, we're expecting her around six. If you wait at the station, she'll pick you up. You can either come with me now and wait for her, or have your guardian bring you later."

Isaac blinked. "Uh... I have lacrosse practice," he said, already knowing he wasn't going.

"That's fine." Sheriff Stilinski gripped his shoulder in a fatherly sort of way. "See you at six, Isaac."

* * *

"That's good, Isaac," Derek said, clapping him on the back. "I'm happy for you. Why are you so worked up?"

Isaac blinked at him in confusion. "Why—because they're from New York, that's why. What if they try and move me out there? Or freak out about me being a werewolf?"

"Or what if they're like your dad, you mean?" Derek asked, cutting to the heart of the matter. Isaac fell silent. "Trust me, the police aren't going to sign you over without some background checks. I wouldn't sweat it."

* * *

Isaac sat in the back seat of a rental car Ms. Jackson was driving, her teenage son riding shot gun. They'd awkwardly been introduced and shook hands before she suggested they return to his house. His house, Isaac had uncomfortably explained, had been empty for months now. He didn't live there, not since his father died.

She was a pleasant enough woman, entirely unflappable when she heard this. "Well, we'll just have to make a fire tonight," she'd said. "It'll be a bit chilly, but we'll make do."

"Also, it might be a little destroyed," he'd muttered, recalling Scott's uncomfortable explanation of how he'd fought the kanima in his kitchen and smashed it up pretty bad. At the time he'd hardly been sad. Lately, nothing but bad memories came from that place.

Isaac still had the key, on a chain around his neck. When they pulled up, he went to the door first to unlock it and froze on the step. Ms. Jackson was parking the car, but his cousin, Percy, came up behind him. "You okay, dude?" Percy asked, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Fine," Isaac said, gritting his teeth and forcing the key into the lock, gripping it tightly to keep his hand from shaking. The lock clicked and he let the door swing inward. Percy was silent as Isaac took a step into his old house and flicked the light switch. Of course the power didn't come on. No one had paid the bill in months.

"Okay. That kinda sucks," Percy said, following him in. "Got any candles?"

"Maybe," Isaac said, shrugging. "Probably."

"Where have you been staying, anyway? Obviously not here," Percy laughed, blowing dust off the end table and dropping his backpack next to it.

"My friend's got a place in town. He's been my guardian lately, so I stay there." Isaac thought fondly of the hot water heater and electricity in Derek's warehouse hangout.

"That's pretty sweet. Back in New York, Mom and I have this great apartment," Percy said casually. "We just moved there a few years ago—before then, we had a really nasty place with my step-dad, but he's gone now."

"He passed away?"

"More like..." Isaac glanced over at Percy, a funny note in his voice. "Vanished mysteriously in the middle of the night?" he said, smiling. "Haven't heard from him since." That was a lie, Isaac noted. He wondered what happened. "Anyway, think we could find some candles?"

Isaac tried to remember where they kept the candles. Did they even _have _candles? "There's probably some in the..." His gaze fell on the basement door and he locked up. Percy followed his gaze and bounded like a puppy for the door, rattling the knob for a second. He turned back to Isaac and raised his hands in defeat.

"I... I got it," Isaac said, stepping past Percy and forcing the door, feeling the lock snap under his sharp turn of the knob. The knob remained on, but the door popped open. "It sticks sometimes," he lied. The truth was, after the kanima had come into his house, he'd told Scott to lock the door up down there. No one was going in there if he had any say. Except now he was opening it up to this stranger. "After you," he forced himself to say, trying to smile. It didn't come out that way, but it was probably dark enough that Percy couldn't tell.

Percy tromped down the stairs. "Geez, it's dark," he complained at the bottom. "Let's see... I've got a flashlight app on my phone." A moment later, a faint white light reached Isaac at the top of the stairs.

_Get in the basement, Isaac,_ he thought he heard whispered in his ear. Isaac steeled himself and started the first stair. _Get in the freezer. Do you want to see me angry? _

Instincts telling him to bolt and throw the door shut again, Isaac took another step down.

"Wow, what's with the chains on the freezer? Did you take a bolt cutter to these or what?" Percy called up. "I'm not seeing any candles... wait, what's on this shelf?" Percy started back up the stairs a minute later, a big box of candles in his hand. "And a box of matches," he said, grinning. "Score!" He found Isaac clinging to the wall for dear life, pale white. "You alright?" he asked, his smile melting off his face.

"Yeah," Isaac told him sharply, turning away from him and moving to the first floor in one swift bound. Two steps down and he was cowering like a little kid again. He wasn't getting locked anywhere anymore.

"You're breathing really hard," Percy said, refusing to drop it. "Asthma attack? Do you have an inhaler anywhere?"

Isaac pushed Percy aside roughly and staggered into the kitchen. "Leave it alone, Percy," he snarled, slamming his hands down on the counter. In the kitchen window, he could see his yellow eyes flashing back at him. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. "It's... nothing," Isaac said, turning back to his cousin, who was now watching him with a mixture of confusion and wariness.

"Got it," Percy said slowly. In his hand he was nervously playing with a ballpoint pen.

The front door swung open and Ms. Jackson stood in the frame, clutching a bag of groceries. "Percy, give me a hand, would you?"

"Sure, Mom," Percy said easily, taking the bag out of her hands. "Aw, crap. What are we going to do with the ice cream?"

"Even if there's no power, we can fill the freezer with ice and keep things cool," Ms. Jackson said, turning to the fridge with a determined look in her eyes. She really was one of those people who made the best of everything, wasn't she? "Percy, why don't you take the car and run out and get some?"

"Is that a good idea?" Percy asked, and Isaac could immediately sense that Percy wasn't comfortable with Isaac. He wondered if he'd seen the eyes, or if it had just been him getting shoved by Isaac. Tall guy like Percy—probably wasn't used to getting pushed around. Newsflash, cousin. He wasn't the biggest dude in Beacon Hills, not by a long shot. "I mean, me driving the rental car and all?"

"You'll be careful. No horse hooves on the hood and I think we'll be okay," Ms. Jackson said, pushing the keys into his hand and steering him out the door. "I'll give you twenty bucks, and you can keep the change. Deal?"

"But—" Percy started to say as Ms. Jackson closed the door on him.

She smiled, turning back to Isaac. "I hope you two can get along," she said anxiously. "I understand this must be a big change for you."

Isaac ducked his head. "I just... I didn't even know that I had an aunt."

Her face pinched a little. "And I didn't know I had a nephew. I hadn't heard from your father since I graduated high school. We were never close. After your grandparents died, I tried to get in contact, but... He moved out of New York. I never found him again."

"So... what's going to happen?" Isaac asked, a bit nervously. Was she planning on whisking him back to the East coast already? Would they fly out in the morning before he had a chance to say goodbye?

She looked at him with the sort of reassuring maternal gaze that Isaac hadn't seen for a long time and Isaac relaxed a little. Percy was lucky, having her as a mother. "Well, of course we'd be glad to have you in New York. Percy could show you around the city, and it might be a good change for you to get away. Of course, I understand you might not want to leave. I'd have to say... It's up to you."

"You mean... I can stay in Beacon Hills, if I want?" Isaac's heart beat faster and he scanned Ms. Jackson for any signs of deception. But this was better than anything he could have hoped for.

"At the very least, we can stay for the rest of the year," she said. "I don't know how much I can promise. And you'll have to put up with some visits back to New York." Isaac's eyes fell on her engagement ring and nearly felt guilty about wanting to stay. Nearly. "And after this year... we'll see."

"You really mean it?" Isaac asked, too hopeful to have his hopes dashed now.

"Yes, I mean it," Ms. Jackson assured him. "I'll call in the morning and see about getting some of the utilities turned back on. We'll make do tonight. Now, help me find some candle sticks, or we'll likely burn down the house tonight."

* * *

Percy took his sweet time coming home—in fact, Isaac had already retreated into his old room for the night. But he could hear Ms. Jackson and him talking in the kitchen, just down the hallway. "You took your sweet time, Perseus," Ms. Jackson said, her voice with a note of warning in it. "Everything alright?"

"I got the ice," Percy said.

"Thank you, dear. Now tell me what happened."

"Some kind of animal on the road. Well, maybe an animal. I didn't get a great look. Anyway, I didn't hit it, so the car's fine, but... uh, I think it was wearing a leather jacket?" _Derek_, Isaac immediately assumed. Shit. His cousin had already spotted their local werewolf. Or had Derek come and spotted _Percy_? Whatever it was, it spelled trouble.

Ms. Jackson let out a long breath. "You're tired, honey. Your eyes are playing tricks on you. We're in a perfectly normal small town, and we're going to stay for awhile."

"Well, how long is awhile?" Percy asked, sounding a little on edge still. From seeing a werewolf. This was going to be a great explanation. _Estranged family members, please don't freak out, but... during the full moon, I uncontrollably murder people. _

Ms. Jackson, in a very quiet voice, replied, "A year."

"A year?" Percy exploded.

"At least," she added.

"Mom, you can't do this to me!" Percy cried. "What about my friends? I was finally supposed to have a normal year with Annabeth and my normal friends. And what if something goes wrong? You _know _something always goes wrong at a new school. Mrs. Dodds, the gym class disaster, setting the band room on fire during orientation—ringing any bells? Because I've been on a pretty bad streak since, uh, kindergarten." Despite his curiosity about whatever messed up story _that _was, Isaac couldn't stop to wonder. He was thinking too hard, praying Ms. Jackson wouldn't relent and say they could go back to New York.

She made soothing sounds. "It's better now. You can handle yourself. _We're _better. And we have to do this. For Isaac."

"Don't make me pull the first born son card," Percy pleaded, but Isaac could tell he was losing some momentum.

"You're still allowed to go to camp in the summer," she promised.

"And we're going back to New York for every break during the school year including three day weekends and snow days?" Percy asked quickly.

Ms. Jackson laughed. "Deal."

"Deal," Percy agreed. "Oh, and while I was at the gas station... Found these."

"Blue jelly beans!" Ms. Jackson exclaimed, sounding delighted. "They sell them in blue only bags?"

"Uh-huh," Percy said, sounding incredibly pleased with himself. "So are we going to eat that blueberry ice cream or just let it melt?"

* * *

"You're Isaac's cousin?" Boyd asked, stretching out a hand to the new guy.

"Percy works, but yeah, that's me," Percy said, shaking his hand. "What's up, man?"

"It's tight you're hanging around for Isaac," Boyd said. "Me and his boys appreciate it."

Percy shrugged, but Isaac didn't miss the slight clenching of his teeth. "Hey, no problem. I can tell we'll get along, right?"

"You trying out for lacrosse?"

That earned another shrug. Was that Percy's trademark? Isaac had yet to decide. "I'm a swimmer at heart," he admitted, smiling at some private joke. "I've never played lacrosse."

"It's not until the spring. Cross country season is fall. And swimming is winter."

Percy hesitated for a moment. "Does it actually _snow_ here?" he asked. That got them to laugh and exchange looks.

"I forgot you're from New York. You're funny, man." Boyd grinned at him, which was strange to see. It wasn't until it happened that Isaac realized how little he saw Boyd smile.

His cousin didn't drop his quizzical expression. "So does it?"

* * *

Isaac opened the front door to his house and followed the sounds of the TV into the living room. A trashy reality show was blaring, but the couch's occupant wasn't watching—no, Percy was asleep. Again. He _had _to sleep twelve hours a day, it seemed. At first, Percy had told him it was a jet lag thing, which wasn't unreasonable. There was a time difference from east to west coast—although not a big one. Still, it didn't quite add up. Especially after a week passed and Isaac was still finding Percy passed out whenever Aunt Sally sent him to collect him for dinner or when he got home from cross country(a sport Percy had decided he didn't want to try out for and instead was training for swimming after school. If these workouts were intense, they had to be short. Like clockwork, Isaac would arrive home after cross country to find his cousin fully dry and sound asleep on the sofa).

He clicked off the TV. Percy stirred and grunted. "I was watching that," he mumbled, wiping off the drool from his cheek.

"Have a nice nap?" Isaac asked, albeit a bit sarcastically.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Percy said, sitting upright and running a hand through his hair. Isaac realized he was still wearing his sweat pants, a wind breaker, and sneakers. "Well, the pool was closed for cleaning, so I jogged home. And then I passed right out, I guess." He sniffed the inside of his jacket and pulled a face. "Dibs on the shower first?"

"It's ten miles from here to the school," Isaac told him, raising an eyebrow. "You could have used the car."

Percy shrugged—and Isaac had decided the shrugging was a chronic thing with him—and said, "I thought you'd want it after practice. Speaking of, how'd it go?"

Isaac thought of the cross country practice with the alpha twins staying out of his and Scott's way for now. But it was only a matter of time before that delicate situation bubbled over. "Fine," he said, clenching a fist.

Percy yawned and stretched. "Cool," he replied. "So Mom is down at the station and said not to wait up. They're sorting out some legal guardian nonsense... We're on our own for dinner tonight. What do you want to eat?"

"Actually, I'll pass," Isaac said, realizing an opportunity to go out like this without making excuses to Aunt Sally, who was for some reason good at recognizing when he made up fake stories(dealing with Percy? The kid didn't seem to lie to his mom that much). "I think I'll go out with some friends."

To his relief, Percy didn't argue and looked almost pleased. "Sweet. I'll order pizza and have the house to myself. Not to boot you, but I promised I'd IM my girlfriend and I miss her like crazy. A couple of friends, actually." Percy frowned and started counting on his fingers.

"Don't strain yourself," Isaac said, smirking a little as Percy mumbled _three_ and held up a fourth finger.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Nothing. I'll be back by one, probably."

"What do I say when Mom asks where you are?" he asked.

It was too bad Aunt Sally didn't take as kindly to all night absences and unannounced coming and goings—and above all, missing dinner. That was another thing he missed about living at Derek's. "That I'm studying with Scott," Isaac said.

"Until one in the morning."

"Right."

Half the time, Percy seemed a lot smarter than he acted. The way he just _knew _when Isaac was pulling one over on him... It drove him crazy. "I'll keep her off your case. Have fun," Percy added, giving him a wicked grin. "Be safe."

* * *

Isaac was shiveringly cold and the only thing he wanted was a long, hot shower. His little ice bath had been pretty miserable and left his lips blue and trembling. But despite his freezing body, he could hear voices in the kitchen from through the door.

Percy... and someone else. Someone he didn't recognize. A guy, by the sounds of it.

"It's late. My cousin should be back soon," Percy was saying. Who did Percy know in Beacon Hills that didn't know him by name? The town was small enough that almost everyone knew everyone. "And _you _should be getting back to camp. It's, what, three in the morning there?"

"I've got business in San Francisco," the other guy said. "Checking some... _things _out." Isaac paused to calculate that out. Beacon Hills was about two hundred miles from San Francisco. There was no car parked in the driveway.

"What things?" Percy asked. When the other guy didn't respond for a moment, Percy added, "You can trust me, Nico. You know I always have your back."

Isaac held his breath, not wanting to miss whatever Percy's friend said next. "I know," Nico said, letting out a sigh. "It's just... not on this, okay? It's _big_. And not time yet."

"Not time yet in a scary prophetic way, or not time yet in a surprise Christmas present for me to celebrate my exile to California? Because I am banking on the latter."

That got a harsh laugh from Nico. Isaac had heard his voice before, he felt. But no, he realized, his voice only reminded Isaac of the loudness of the warehouse just after The Girl had restarted his heart with the jumper cables and the hollow feeling he'd had as he rejoined the living, like something important had been left behind. To say the least, Nico's laugh wasn't pretty. "Unfortunately, the former. But I promise you'll find out when it's time. For now, you shouldn't worry so much. I didn't come here to bring you _bad _news."

"That's right, you came here for the free food and a place to crash. Just don't let my cousin see you, okay? Of course you know Mom loves you. Isaac... I don't even know what to make of him half the time."

Nico sniffed. "Yeah, okay. Oh, and I'm supposed to ask if you'll be back in New York for the holidays."

He could practically hear the grin in Percy's voice. "Oh, yeah. Too far away, I say. I can't _wait_. My city! I can't help but keep hoping something will go terribly wrong at Beacon Hills like every other school and they'll kick me out so Mom has no choice but to take us back."

"Don't go looking for trouble, Percy."

"Looking for it? Did I start the dodgeball game from the underworld? Did I ask for my math teacher to try and kill me? Did that cheerleader blow up the band room and blame it on me? And remember when I came to your school for one day and things went totally bonkers with Annabeth?" Percy was getting heated now, but Isaac on the other hand was freezing cold. He decided to drop the eavesdropping and go in. He pushed on the door and it creaked softly as he entered.

"Sh—I heard the door," Nico hushed Percy's rant.

"Go downstairs," Percy breathed. Both of them were soft enough that Isaac _shouldn't _have been able to hear them. "I'll let you know when the coast is clear."

"Percy?" Isaac called, as if he didn't know he was sitting in the kitchen with a stranger. He closed the door and locked it, kicking off his shoes. Honestly, he didn't give a crap about whether or not Percy had friends over. More like... ticked that Percy was doing it so sneakily. When Isaac came into the kitchen, Percy was eating leftover blue pancakes and working on his math homework, scratching his head in bleary eyed confusion as if he'd been there all night.

Percy looked up and for a moment Isaac could almost believe he'd been staring at that page for hours, trying to finish his pre-calc assignment. "Oh, hey, Isaac," he said, rubbing at an eye and yawning—Percy was tired? Why wasn't Isaac surprised? "How'd your night go? You look... cold. Why are your pants soaking wet?"

Isaac didn't have a lie prepared, so instead he said, "I don't want to talk about it."

To his cousin's credit, he just nodded seriously. "You hitting the hay?" he asked, obviously hoping Isaac would clear out for the night. How his cousin had vanished so silently...

"I'll shower, then go to bed. You should, too."

Percy shrugged(the habit was starting to get on Isaac's nerves). "It's not a school night. I love sleeping in."

When Isaac got out of the shower and was significantly warmer, he could still hear the two of them talking. "And this has been the only weird thing you've seen the whole time?"

"Just the wolf in a leather jacket, yeah."

"Not even a _whiff _of anything else?"

"It's the weirdest."

"No kidding. Everyone else is reporting sightings like crazy. And especially for you..." A pause. "Don't go after this, Percy. If it's big enough to scare off other creatures, you should leave well enough alone."

With a jolt, Isaac realized for the first time that maybe Percy wasn't just a normal kid from New York. Talking about creatures—no, talking about when he saw _Derek—_like it was no big deal... It occurred to him that he really didn't know anything about Percy. And from now on, would do well enough to leave him alone.

"Gotta go. I'm meeting a girl."

"You dog."

"Don't be gross. She's a half sister."

"Oh, so she's downstairs, if you catch my drift? What's her name?"

A pause. "Hazel."

"Don't be a stranger. My door is open any time."

"...provided your normal cousin is out of the house."

Percy laughed. "Whatever. Normal people are the new weird for us, don't you know?"

"Stay safe, Percy," Nico said seriously.

* * *

Percy slowed to a halt by the forest creek and put his hands on his knees, breathing hard. Maybe he'd gotten a _little _lost. He should have stayed on the trail. Nothing like 20/20 hindsight. Should he try and retrace his steps or keep going in the hopes of finding the path? If he'd thought it would be worth using a cell phone and bringing anything in the area down on him, he would have called Isaac for help. Then again...

It wasn't that Isaac was mean or anything. But his cousin also wasn't going to be his best friend any time soon, he sensed. It was the snarky comments he sometimes made, the way he watched Percy with a guarded face, and the way he gave Percy chills every time he turned his back that told him to draw his sword and put his back against a wall. But that, he chided himself, was paranoia about not seeing a single monster since they arrived in Beacon Hills. Which was decidedly odd, considering he was a child of the Big Three and normally was stabbing monsters left and right.

Behind him, a branch cracked. Percy swung around, grabbing Riptide out of his pocket quickly. Standing on top of the hill above him was one of the many people he'd been introduced to since his arrival that he hadn't spoken to since. What was her name again? Alexis? Ally? No, it was Allison. She looked like she was out for a walk. And she was giving him a look like he was the strangest person alive. "Gonna write on me?" she asked.

Percy glanced at his hand and realized how it looked, clutching Riptide like it was a weapon. Well, it _was _a weapon. Right now, though... it was a ballpoint pen. "Oh. No, you just spooked me," he said, grinning in embarrassment. He pocketed the pen and shifted to a less threatened looking position. "Allison, right?" he checked, seeing if he'd remembered right.

"Uh, yeah," she said, still looking at him strangely.

"Oh—I'm Percy. Isaac's cousin?" he reminded her, assuming she'd forgotten. That got a laugh out of her, and she finally dropped the weird expression.

"Yeah, I know who you are," she said. "What are you doing out here?"

Percy tossed a hopeless look around the woods. "I _was _going for a run. But I seem to have gotten lost. Please tell me you know how to get back to the path."

"It's not too far," she said. "Do you want me to walk you there?"

Allison stretched down a hand and helped him up the embankment. "Thanks," Percy said, brushing himself off. "I'm glad I remembered your name."

"To tell the truth, I was pretty surprised to see anyone else. This is where I come when I want to be alone," she admitted to him. Maybe that explained the weird looks. Percy didn't really know what to make of her.

"Sorry to invade on your space," he said. "Believe me, I wasn't planning on it. I've been wandering around the woods for about an hour now, figuring I'm going to die in here after it gets dark." Ahead of them, Percy could see a beaten trail. "Alright!" He ran ahead a few steps and suddenly found himself flying into the air, dangling by one foot. "What the—"

Allison sighed. "Are you okay? This forest has plenty of traps in it, unfortunately. Mostly just snares. Nothing lethal. Let me get you down," she said, stepping toward the tree that apparently was keeping him tangled up. Percy struggled to sit up and get his hands to the string around his jeans, where it was cutting off circulation to his foot. Behind them, something snapped in the trees and was accompanied by a low growl. "Who's there?" she called out, whipping around.

"Allison," Percy said through gritted teeth, reaching for Riptide, "why don't you get me down quick and we can face the scary noise together?" But she was stepping away from him and _closer _to sounds, which were getting louder, and Percy was thinking he was about to watch the mortal get chewed on by some scary monster.

* * *

**A/N: Hey! So this story is probably going to keep this choppy sort of cutting away focus that I have now. It's set during s3 of Teen Wolf and will reference activities from there but I'm not an author to retype the tv show script for you. The plot here is set before HoO, although will lead up to events there. **

**Liked the story? Disliked the story? Please leave me constructive criticism in the reviews! I'm always trying to improve :) **


	2. Chapter 2

The rustling grew louder and then stopped altogether, and Allison whipped her head around, searching for a source. Still, whatever had been in the woods seemed to have disappeared.

Behind her, Percy said, "Still hanging upside down," and when she turned, all of the blood had run to his head. It was a little funny, and Allison couldn't contain a laugh. But as she went to ease him to the ground, his eyes widened and he mumbled something in another language.

She spun around to come face to face with Ethan and Aiden, looking equal amounts douche bag and predatory animal and Allison instinctively went for her bow—which wasn't there, since this was supposed to be a relaxing jog in the woods. "Ethan. Aiden," she greeted, stepping so she was blocking Percy from their view (and theirs from Percy's). "What are you doing out here?"

Aiden gave her a charming, seductive smile that made her feel queasy inside. "It's a free country out here. Who's your friend? Is this some kind of kink? Does Scott know?"

"Very funny," she huffed in annoyance as Aiden shifted to get a better look at Percy.

Percy smiled up at Aiden, obviously not recognizing the situation for the danger it was. Because of course Percy wouldn't jump to the conclusion that these guys were in the Alpha pack... No, they were just two normal high school guys that friendly Percy Jackson thought he'd get along with great. She resisted the urge to step between them again. "How's it going?" Percy greeted casually.

Ethan made an amused sound somewhere between a cough and a laugh. "Great, you?" he replied.

"Oh, you know," Percy said, gesturing at the rope around his ankle. "Just hangin'."

"I love this guy," Aiden said, and effortlessly tore the rope down from the branch with one hand. If Percy thought _that _was weird, he didn't have time to process before he went face first into the dirt. "Oh, my bad," Aiden apologized, helping him up. As Percy spat out dirt, he said slowly, "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

"I think we do," Ethan agreed, giving Allison the kind of smirk that said they'd known all along. A tingle ran down her spine. "Aren't you Lahey's cousin?"

Percy bobbed his head and slapped palms with Aiden in a classic guy greeting. "Bingo. I'm Percy. Actually, I think we have Latin together."

Great. They were bonding. When Isaac heard, he'd flip his lid. It was bad enough they were already harassing him at school. Allison had to put a stop to this before Percy turned into a liability instead of an annoying cousin that Isaac complained about. He was going to get hurt if he wasn't smart, and from what she'd seen so far today, Percy was plenty dumb. "Percy, why don't I help you get home?" she asked, but Percy didn't seem interested in her anymore.

"I've got a better idea," Ethan said, moving so he was between Allison and Percy, shutting her out of the conversation. He threw a friendly arm around Percy's shoulders. "Let's get some burgers."

"Great!" Percy said, sounding enthusiastic. "Oh... do you want to come, Allison?" he asked, sounding like he'd rather she said no. Of course, at this point, she wasn't going to let the three of them out of her sight.

"Love to," she said tightly.

Which was how the four of them found themselves crammed into a booth at the Lion's Tap. Allison had tried to sit next to Percy, but instead Ethan had slid in and blocked Percy in against the wall. Instead, she forced herself to sit calmly next to Aiden. While driving over, she'd sent a text to Scott that just said to meet her there and that it was important. Hopefully he could get off work and come, but until then, there wasn't much chance of rescue.

"So what's good to eat?" Percy asked, smiling broadly at the twins.

"Their double California cheeseburgers are great," Ethan said, pointing at them on the menu. "They're huge, though."

"Sounds good to me. I'll have two," Percy decided.

Percy had inhaled the first of his burgers before Allison had even gotten her order, and the truth was, his eating habits were a little disgusting. Not to mention sitting next to the guys who had tried to _kill_ Isaac was making her not very hungry. If this wasn't another one of their games to get under his skin, she'd shave her head bald. So Allison was picking at her burger aimlessly when Scott came in the door and stopped at the sight in front of him. He probably hadn't been expecting _this_, whatever he'd thought when he read her text.

"Hey, Allison," Scott said, squeezing into the booth next to her. "What's up, guys?"

Ethan and Aiden exchanged looks of brief annoyance before masking it with casual smiles. "Hey, McCall," Aiden said.

"Hey. I think Isaac's been looking for you," Scott said immediately, in a way that made Percy look up in surprise. There was a hint of irritation in his face that smoothed out as he checked his phone—a crappy old flip phone, Allison noted. He definitely didn't use _that _a lot.

"He hasn't called. Or texted. Is it an emergency?" Percy asked, sounding like this was the last thing he wanted to go take care of at the moment.

"Something about your mom?" Scott said, and Percy stood bolt upright.

"Sorry, guys. I have to go," he told the twins, forcing Ethan to get up and let him out. "If something's up with my mom..." He was rifling around for his wallet before coming up with a twenty. "Lunch is on me," he added.

"I hope everything's okay," Ethan said, making eye contact with Scott while he said it.

"Yeah. Uh, see you at school, I guess," Percy said, before beating feet out of there.

It was sweet of Percy to be so concerned about his mother. Allison just hoped Isaac could think of a convincing enough lie to cover for Scott's little fib. Scott waited until he had let the door slam behind him and then turned angrily to the twins. "I don't know what you're trying to pull here," he snarled, his eyes flashing. "Leave Isaac's cousin alone."

"We're just being friendly," Ethan said innocently.

"Well, quit it," Scott told them, before taking Allison's hand and getting up. "We're out of here."

* * *

"Jackson!" one of the twins called, grinning and waving at him. "You want to hang out after Latin?"

Percy paused and pointed at his chest in surprise. "Me?" he called back over the sea of people in the hallway, all rushing to one class or the next.

"We can go off campus for lunch. I know where they have the best slice in town," the other one offered. His mouth watered at the thought of pizza—honest to gods, not just frozen and microwaved pizza.

"I'm in," Percy said, a smile breaking over his face. He tried not to drool—he'd been told once he did so in his sleep and never lived it down.

Honestly, it was such a relief that the guys still wanted to hang out with him after he'd bailed during their burger session. Percy had worried they'd think he was a momma's boy to run off like that, but the look on Scott's face had made him assume that his mother was either dead or dying. It had pissed him off when Isaac told him that he'd just wanted to pass on that she wasn't going to be home for dinner and was working late on tonight, something he knew already because she'd left a note on the fridge. In other words, he was officially ticked at his cousin and his cousin's annoying friends who kept interfering with any hopes of making friends at Beacon Hills.

Because the truth was, for some odd reason, they were nowhere to be found unless Percy was trying to chat with his new friends, the twins. And then they were always trying to get him away for a minute or two. It was getting really, really old.

He didn't care if Isaac and the twins hated each other. At this point, that was starting to be an added bonus to the friendship.

The pizza place was just down the road from the high school, and was flooded with kids looking to grab a quick after school snack. The twins had informed him that the pizza was their treat as thanks for last time with the burgers, and then they'd proceeded to order three large pizzas with any and every topping the pizza parlor had.

"So you're from Manhattan, right?" Ethan asked.

Percy, who was mid bite on his third slice nodded and swallowed quickly. "All my life. It's a bit of a change."

"Sucks that you're moved all the way across the country from your friends," Aiden added, making a sympathetic face. "For Lahey's sake. Are you guys going to stick around, you think?"

"It sounds awful, but I almost wish something awful would happen so we'd go back home," Percy admitted, cleaning the grease off his fingers with his jeans. "I mean, Isaac's cool and all, but I miss my girlfriend."

The boys both smirked suggestively. "A girlfriend, huh," Aiden said. "Is she hot?"

Fondly, Percy thought of Annabeth's stormy gray eyes and curly blond hair and the way she always said _Seaweed Brain_ before she kissed him if he did something stupid(often) and how she kept her hair pulled back with a pencil while she was working on Daedalus's computer and somehow looked effortlessly beautiful. "Yeah," he said. "She's gorgeous. So I've got to worry about some sap horning in on my girl while I'm away." He frowned at that thought.

"Sucks, man. We're not big fans of Lahey, to be honest," Ethan admitted, watching him closely for a reaction.

He nodded, unsurprised. "I can kind of tell," he told him. "It's cool. I don't feel all that fond of him half the time, with the way he's always sneaking around and rolling his eyes at me like I don't notice." Percy bristled at the thought of Isaac's snark when he thought Percy was half asleep or engrossed in struggling through a school book. "Not to sound like a loser, but no one's really talked to me since I got to town beyond 'what's the answer to number five'. So..." Percy shrugged.

"Weird. You're pretty cool," Aiden said, and then slurped at his soda noisily, sucking air out of the empty straw. "Well, if you want to do something... Beacon Hills has, like, one movie theater and club. We could take you, if you're interested."

It didn't sound bad, to go spend some time with a couple of normal guys. If he had to be in this town, he might as well enjoy it a little bit. "Sure," Percy agreed easily. "I'm free—"

A hand clamped down on his shoulder and bony fingers dug into his skin. It didn't hurt, but it _was _really cold fingers. "Hey, Percy," Isaac said. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Across the table from him, Ethan and Aiden exchanged looks and gave Isaac a matching patronizing smile. Percy glanced up at his cousin and tried to read his expression. He looked angry about something, but there was also a note of concern or worry. "Yeah, sure. Just a sec, guys," he added, sliding out of the booth and following Isaac toward the men's bathroom. "Dude, what's wrong?" he asked. "Did something happen?"

"Those guys are bad news," Isaac said immediately once they were out of ear shot. "Stay away from them. It's not safe."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Isaac, no offense, but you don't run my life," he said, folding his arms in annoyance. "Whatever 'bad news' they are, I think I can take care of myself without you dictating to me who I can and cannot hang out with."

"Hang out with _anyone _except them," Isaac said, sounding a little desperate. "You think you can but you really have no idea what you're dealing with here. Percy, it's not just high school bullying drama. Can't you trust me?"

It was hard to say no to Isaac when he had that hurt puppy expression on. Still, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of annoyance. "Trust you? I barely know you," Percy snapped. "And you seem pretty damn intent on keeping it that way. I think you've told me that it's time for dinner more than any other conversation we might have had for the last three weeks. Not to sound whiny, but I kind of don't know anybody at this school that I just had to move across the country to attend, isolating me from all my friends for a cousin who is supposed to be my family and actually talks to me less than my dad. Who, by the way, I've seen about ten times in my whole life."

Isaac looked hurt, and Percy almost wanted to take back the words, but they had just kept pouring out of him. "Please, Percy," he said, but Percy barely even knew what he was asking for anymore.

"I'll see you at dinner, Isaac," Percy said, and left him by the bathroom.

When he sat back down, Ethan and Aiden were smiling at each other at some unheard joke. "Everything alright?" Aiden asked, with a knowing look.

Percy stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets. "Yeah, just... y'know, family stuff," he said sullenly. "So, weekend plans?"

* * *

Percy found himself seeking out the twins the next day at lunch, but they weren't waiting for him in the parking lot. Nor were they in the lunch room corner like he usually found them in, so Percy resigned himself to eat alone. He headed for his locker to put away his back pack and passed Isaac and Allison on the way. That was right—Isaac had a lunch detention for beating the crap out of Ethan. Of course... his friends had probably gone home, thanks to his cousin. Whatever Allison had done, he doubted it was as bad. She was nice, even if he didn't get what she saw in Isaac.

He dawdled by his locker for awhile, fiddling with Riptide and wishing he could talk to Annabeth about what was happening. It was harder and harder to find time to IM her these days—Isaac kept an eye on him whenever they were at home and asked him where he was going every time he went to leave the house. It really ground his gears, but what was he going to do? Even hearing from Grover wouldn't be so terrible. Percy wondered if he could possibly use one of the locker room showers to make some mist for a call home. Hearing from Grover or Annabeth sounded real nice about now.

It wasn't until Coach Finstock came by that he decided to try it. Coach Finstock had been heckling him about joining the cross country team since the first day of school. "Jackson," he called, his eyebrows drawing together seriously. "You interested yet? We meet every day after school!"

Percy shut his locker. "No thanks, sir," he said, smiling at the coach. "I'm not very fast."

"You kidding? You're like a bean pole. You've got runner written all over you," he argued. Percy wondered if that was intended to be a compliment, before jogging away from the coach. "See? You're running!" he called after him.

On his way toward the bathroom, he started to hear a thumping noise. The closer he drew, Percy realized someone was yelling, too. He peered into an alcove to find a soda machine shoved in front of a cabinet door. Gods, someone was in there! He jumped into action as a girl started to yell, too—her words were muffled by the door in the way, but he could hear her nonetheless. "Hang on," Percy shouted, and threw himself at the vending machine. It started to shift, slowly but surely. How had someone gotten this across the door in the first place? What he wouldn't give for Tyson's strength right about now... As he was shoving, Scott McCall came hurrying around the corner and locked eyes with him. "Help!" Percy ordered, and Scott joined him. With his added strength, the vending machine slid out of the way effortlessly.

Scott jerked the door open and grabbed the shirt of the guy inside, throwing him on the floor away from Percy. "Isaac!" he shouted, and Percy jerked his head in surprise—not only at his cousin's sudden appearance, but at the authority in Scott's voice. Then he looked inside and saw Allison standing against the shelf, holding a hand to her arm.

"You're hurt," he said, moving to get her out of the closet as well.

"It's just a scratch," she protested, but Isaac had lifted his head and was giving her the most horrified look Percy had ever seen in his life. He started apologizing over and over, even as Allison hurried away to clean up her cut.

"What's _wrong _with you?" Percy snapped, spinning on his cousin. Only, when he met eyes with Isaac, he couldn't stay angry. Because there was a look in his cousin's eyes that was like shattered glass and a terrified, hollowed out stare that made Percy feel a little guilty.

And he remembered the freezer in the basement with chains on it and the way he hadn't been able to figure out what the weird marks on it were when they'd plugged it back in to the wall and how Isaac never went downstairs. And _then _he pictured the look in Briares' eyes when they'd told him he could leave his cage and he'd just resigned himself to being killed by Kampfe, and Percy started to get an idea of what was wrong with Isaac.

"I didn't mean to—" Isaac started to say, before staring at his hands in horror, and Percy went and threw his arm around his shoulder.

"Okay. Let's get you home," he said.

* * *

Things had calmed down between Percy and Isaac since the closet incident.

While before, Percy wouldn't have given Isaac the time of day, he'd started actually talking to Isaac of his own free will. And even after their antics at school the next day had gotten Aiden suspended and made the two of them furious, Percy had kept whatever suspicions he might have had to himself. Which Isaac appreciated.

Another thing that Isaac had noticed was that when he came home from school the next day, the freezer had vanished from the basement and the house entirely, and while Percy didn't mention it, he didn't doubt he had something to do with it.

Aunt Sally seemed happy that the two of them had started getting along, and Isaac didn't blame her. Having _two _moody teenage sons locking themselves in their rooms was probably more than enough for one person to handle.

Of course, it hadn't stopped Percy from hanging out with Aiden and Ethan after school. And whenever Isaac tried to mention it to him, Percy would shut down the conversation. If they were driving in the car, he would turn up the volume and if they were talking in one of their bedrooms, Percy would throw pillows. It was immature.

So the weekend when Aunt Sally had to go back to New York for talks with her book agent, Isaac was surprised his cousin had decided to stay with him. When he asked Percy, he'd received a list of reasons why. "Annabeth's busy. Grover's in Canada. I have _no_ idea where Thalia is. My brother can't get off work. I don't want to go back and sit in the apartment alone," he pointed out.

It had been Scott's idea to have them stay over. "My mom won't mind," he said. "She's glad I'm hanging out with people other than Stiles sometimes." He grinned.

Which led to the three of them turning up on Scott's doorstep after school on Friday. Percy had packed an orange duffle bag the night before and double checked that they'd turned off all the appliances and locked up that morning, and he'd searched for his 'lucky pen' before discovering it in his pants pocket the whole time.

"Come in," Melissa McCall had urged, ushering the group into the house. "We'll have to put you up on the couch, I'm afraid," she admitted. "We don't have enough beds for everyone. I'm making pasta, so you boys can entertain yourselves for the next few hours."

"Can I help, Mrs. McCall?" Percy had offered.

She'd tried to wave him off and insisted the three of them just hang out, but once the three of them had been left alone, he'd excused himself and never come back. Whether it was him not wanting to hang out or him sensing the two of them wanted to talk, Isaac had for once been relieved by his cousin's antisocial tendencies.

Once he'd left, Isaac had asked, "Does anything seem off about him?"

Scott shrugged. "I can't tell. Normal is so weird now."

"Yeah," Isaac agreed, scratching his head. "We need to talk about this afternoon."

"With Deucalion cutting up the twins faces? Yeah," Scott agreed, and dropped his voice. "I don't even know what's going on in their pack. It's too weird."

"Can we agree they would have killed us?" Isaac whispered. It wasn't something he had much doubt about. "They're really pissed."

Scott nodded. "I think we should be a lot more careful now," he said. "Stick together, you know?"

Half the time, Isaac thought Scott would make a better alpha than Derek. Not that he didn't appreciate Derek. It was just a little too hands off for his tastes. He couldn't imagine Derek saying to stick together.

When they emerged from Scott's bedroom, they found Percy in the kitchen, stirring a pot of tomato sauce on the stove and chatting with Mrs. McCall casually. Scott's mother glanced up to see them and exclaimed, "We are _adopting _him!"

Percy laughed. "I'm only good at reheating sauces and instant noodles," he said. "My mom's a great cook, though."

She smiled. "Well, I'll have to invite her over some time to talk. You said she was meeting with her book agent? I thought she did sculpture."

"Yeah," he said. "She's pretty artsy. The whole sculpture thing was sort of a one time thing. I guess it was too weird that she made a statue of my step dad and then he took off, you know?" He didn't sound the least bit broken up about the disappearance. "Of course, the best thing he ever did for us was leave."

"Bad marriage?" Mrs. McCall asked sympathetically and nodded. "I can relate."

"Mom," Scott said, raising his eyebrows.

"What?" she asked. "You were the only good part."

"Yeah. Gabe was trash," Percy said, and picked up the noodles, draining off the water into the sink. He was holding the pot so incautiously that Isaac was positive he was going to pour boiling water on his hands, but he must have avoided it somehow, because Percy looked unfazed. "Anyway, who's hungry?"

Later that evening, Isaac was walking past the bathroom when he heard voices coming from the closed door. One was Percy's. The other was a girl's voice, and not one he recognized.

"I'm probably going to be in town," she said. "We should do lunch."

"You can get time off to do lunch?" Percy asked, sounding surprised. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Well, if I ask, I'm sure Artemis will agree," the girl said loftily. "I _am_ her favorite. Anyway, why don't we meet up tomorrow? I've got loads to tell you about."

"Sounds good to me. There's a great pizza place by the high school. Think you can find it?"

"Yeah. I'll see you then," she said.

Isaac knocked on the door. "Percy?" he asked.

"Just a second," Percy called, and a moment later the door opened. Clouds of mist from the shower spilled out, still warm. Percy was fully dressed in his orange pajama bottoms and totally dry. "Sorry, do you need the bathroom? My friend called."

"Yeah," Isaac said, and Percy slipped out.

It wasn't until later he realized that Percy hadn't had a phone.

* * *

Scott was interested.

He couldn't help it. After what Isaac had told him about the bathroom conversation and mentioned how weird it was that Percy's hair wasn't even wet, right out of the shower, he had agreed with Isaac's crack pot plan to go spy on his cousin and his mysterious phone call.

The two of them had been in the kitchen, waiting for Percy to leave, when he'd come in acting suspicious. "I'm going out for a while," he'd said.

"Okay," Scott had agreed easily, while Isaac feigned an interest in his Cheerios. Despite it being already noon, the boys had stayed up late talking about his cousin's oddities and hadn't gotten up more than an hour ago.

They gave him a half hour head start before heading where they knew he was going—the Big Rico's by the high school.

Percy was already there, sitting across the table from a girl who looked like a cross between a punk rocker and an elf out of Lord of the Rings. It was the delicate tiara that sat across her forehead combined with a black leather jacket. She was chomping on a piece of pizza and laughing at whatever Percy was saying. When they came closer, Percy's gaze locked on them like a deer in the headlights, caught hanging out with someone he apparently didn't want them to meet. Which was why Scott went ahead and sat down with them. "Hey, Percy," he said.

"Hey, guys," he said, sounding uneasy. Scott could hear his heart beat—it was going crazy. The girl on the other hand, was studying them with a bored gaze. "Thalia, this is the cousin I mentioned, Isaac, and that's Scott. Uh, this is my cousin, Thalia."

"Hey," she said, studying them. Her gaze roved over Scott and he felt as if he was being judged. "You guys mind? We're having a private conversation."

"Ouch," Percy laughed. "Sorry, guys. Maybe you can meet Thalia another day." By the look in his eyes, he was hoping that day was _never _or later.

Scott opened his mouth to protest, but Isaac grabbed his arm and hauled him up. "Okay. Sorry to butt in," he said, and dragged Scott to another booth on the other side of the room. It took him about three seconds to understand Isaac's idea. Yeah, they were far enough away that Percy would feel like they wouldn't hear what they were saying... Of course, a werewolf might be able to hear in still.

"Sorry about that," Percy was telling her. "They're not bad... Just nosy as Hades."

She laughed. "I can't tell you how surprised I was to hear from you. Your IM came in the middle of dinner. There's gossip in the girls that I've got myself a boyfriend." Thalia made a disgusted noise. "As _if_. Anyway, it's good luck you're here—we were coming this way anyways. Now I can pick your brain."

"About what?" Percy asked.

"Well, I'm not in Beacon Hills just for you," she said. "We're tracking something... big. Not totally sure _what _yet. There are several beasts... probably in a pack. And they're dangerous." A chill ran down Scott's spine. What the _hell_ was she talking about? The Alpha pack? And how was Percy involved with that? Yeah, he was a little _weird_, not a werewolf hunter. Who _was _this girl? "Seen anything?"

Percy paused to think. "There have been some noises in the woods, when I jog. I thought I was going to come face to face with an animal once... It turned out to be my two friends," he added, laughing.

"Ugh. You're just paranoid," she sighed.

"Wait. The first night I was here," Percy began, "Mom sent me out to get some ice. And this _thing _ran across the road."

"What, like a dog?" Thalia asked.

"No, not like a dog. Like a guy with fangs and glowing yellow eyes and a leather jacket," Percy described. "Sound closer to what you're looking for?"

She nodded, riveted. "Go on. What else?"

He shrugged, and Scott breathed a sigh of relief that that was _all _he had to tell her. God knew it was damning enough for whatever a girl like Thalia was looking for. "Nothing."

"That's useful," she mused. "We were tracking a clear path until recently. Now the scent is scattered. The whole town is messy. We've been toying with ideas... two packs... pack conflict... It's not like monsters to group like this. You had any... incidents lately?"

Percy shook his head and said, "None. I've been amazed. Nico and I talked about it, but... Maybe that's why. Maybe this thing you're tracking is scaring off anything else and that's why I haven't seen so much as a telekhine." He rubbed his jaw. "You're in for a fight, then. Do you need any help?"

Thalia's gaze suddenly cut across the room to stare at the two of them. Scott busied himself with unfolding a paper napkin and anxiously shredding it to bits. "Actually... I've got some bad news for you. You reek of what we've been tracking, which means you've been in contact with it recently. And so do your friends. And there's something else... off about them."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, they're not human," she told him.

* * *

**A/N: Well, that's chapter 2! Things are heating up with the werewolf / demigod reveal and Percy's playing into the hands of the enemy... Unfortunately, that's the last of the material I had prewritten as spitballing ideas AND I have to go to school next week, which will definitely cut into my writing time. Of the 5K words for this chapter, I had about 1K of extra material prepared and it took me almost four hours to write / edit the rest, if that gives you a time frame on my schedule. There will be a longer break between these next chapters, sorry! I can't keep up a every 24 hours update schedule. **

**Thank you to those of you who take the time to read my trash. Haha, there aren't very many of you but I do value your time you spent on my work. If you enjoyed it, leave a review and give me some feedback please! **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This chapter takes place around the events of the Teen Wolf episode Frayed. I don't rehash the episode entirely, but it's the one where the two packs fight in the shopping mall and everyone thinks Derek dies.**

* * *

Allison was out in the woods with her bow, practicing some trick shots on a paper target she'd set up when Scott called her. "Where are you?" he'd asked as soon as she answered.

"In the woods behind my house," Allison said, hearing the panic in his voice. "What's wrong?"

"Percy knows we're not human and he split and we've been looking for him. I don't know what he's going to do," Scott told her frantically. "Isaac is looking for him." Quickly, he filled her in on the whole story—eavesdropping on his mysterious friend's conversation and giving some bizarre description of an punk elf girl that Allison assumed made sense to Scott.

"When was this?" Allison asked.

"Probably an hour or two ago. Go home, please. I have no idea what he's capable of," Scott said, a bit desperately.

She started jerking arrows out of the target on the tree and putting them back in her quiver, holding the phone against her ear with her shoulder. "Okay. But Percy doesn't exactly seem dangerous to me," she said.

Scott didn't reply for a moment. "He might be," he finally told her. "Stay safe."

That was bad news if she'd ever heard any. Allison shook her head and hung up the phone, ready to go home. She didn't think Percy would hurt her, but then again... she had no idea what he'd heard. Still, they had hung out a few times during the last week. The werewolves had gone bowling together and she'd assumed that it would be her and Stiles as the only two humans. Then Isaac had turned up with Percy in tow. He was a terrible bowler, but a pretty funny guy. It was hard to reconcile that impression with something that scared _Scott_. Allison shook off that thought and slung her bow over her shoulder, turning to go.

Something thudded into the tree behind her and Allison whipped around to see three arrows embedded in her paper target's bullseye. Immediately, she grabbed her compound bow and knocked and arrow, searching for her attacker.

"You've got good instincts," a female voice said, and Allison snapped her head to see a girl with a delicate tiara and a leather jacket emerging from the tree line. In one hand, she was holding a recurve bow that seemed almost silvery. She smiled at her and popped her gum. "You're a natural hunter."

"Who the hell are you?" Allison demanded, raising her bow at her. The girl rolled her eyes, looking unconcerned. "What's the big idea, shooting at me like that?"

"Oh, please. I would never have hit you," the girl said, waving her hand dismissively. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Thalia."

Slowly, Allison lowered her bow to point it at the ground. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm looking for something," she said, and it clicked for Allison. Punk elf much?

"Looking for Scott?" she demanded. "I won't let you hurt him."

To her surprise, the girl didn't seem concerned. "Who, the wolf? No, I'm interested in bigger prey. Your friend's small fry... I want an alpha." Despite her height and her face making Allison put her at no older than fourteen or fifteen, her grin made Allison uncomfortably aware she wasn't facing off with a normal kid. No, this girl... there was definitely something _supernatural_ about her.

"You seem to know a lot about it," Allison remarked, circling around to move closer to the path. As she moved, so did the other girl.

Thalia spread her arms and shrugged. "What can I say? Percy gave me a description of what he saw and I gave that to my sisters. From there, it wasn't hard to figure it out. As we speak, the girls are crawling over this town, trying to ferret out where the pack's hiding out. You wouldn't happen to know, would you?"

"You're going to kill the Alpha pack?" she asked, in disbelief.

Thalia rolled her head to the side and winked at Allison. "Hard to say. Artemis loves wolves, but if they're as dark as we think... We may put them down."

"Artemis? Who's that?" Allison asked.

"My sister and leader," Thalia told her, and seemed disinterested in saying anything else about the matter. "If you're as handy with a knife as you are with that bow, you ought to think about joining us." Finally, she slung her bow over her shoulder and pulled out a silvery card from her jacket pocket. "You certainly seem tough enough." Thalia closed the distance between them quickly and held out the card.

When Allison made no move to take the card from Thalia, Thalia slipped it into her sweatshirt pocket. "What the hell are the hunters?" she asked, narrowing her eyes and slapping Thalia's hand away from her.

"Picture this," Thalia told her, "never growing old, gaining all kinds of powers you never dreamed of, hunting monsters with a sisterhood you can always rely on... Normal girls join up all the time."

Allison shuddered at the thought. Despite the glimmer in Thalia's eyes that said she would never want to do anything else, the thought of being perpetually frozen as a teenager sounded terrible. The kind of life Thalia was explaining sounded like Neverland, but Allison had grown too old for fairy tales. "I'm not interested," she told her and took back on the card to give it back to her. It was an odd business card—there wasn't a cell phone number on it, or really any writing at all.

Instead of accepting the card, Thalia folded Allison's hands back over it. "You don't have to decide now," she said, and stepped away. "The offer stands. Before we leave town, tear the card in half and we'll find you."

"I won't," Allison insisted, but she put the card in her jeans pocket anyway.

"So long, Allison," Thalia called over her shoulder, retreating into the trees. Moments later, she had blended in and vanished among the pines. It was with a jolt that Allison realized she hadn't told Thalia her name.

Allison went to the arrows still stuck in the tree and yanked them out, studying them. They were silvery and tipped with what looked like a jagged tooth, but when she poked it with her finger, it drew blood immediately. She hesitated and then took all three. Then she tore down the target in the trees and hurried for home.

* * *

Isaac crept into his house and shut the door behind himself with a soft click. This was where Percy had retreated to, after he split with his cousin at the pizza place. Isaac had tracked his scent all the way back here, but now he had no idea what to do.

There were no lights on in the front hallway, and Isaac left them off. He didn't need to turn them on, with his excellent vision, but if Percy was confused and angry, he wouldn't be able to try anything with no light.

He moved into the kitchen, swinging open the door carefully, so it wouldn't creak. No sign of his cousin, but there was another person nearby. Close. He closed his eyes and inhaled, trying to focus on Percy's distinct scent. Behind him, the door squeaked on its hinges. A pipe was gurgling in the upstairs bathroom. There were mice in the basement. Isaac tried to shut down all of his senses and process only what would help him find Percy.

Then Isaac opened his eyes with a jolt. The door was squeaking?

As he went to turn, something sharp pressed into his back. "Don't move," Percy said darkly. He must have been behind the door, waiting for Isaac to come in.

Isaac held up his hands. "Calm down," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you, Percy."

"You know what Thalia said about you, I take it," Percy remarked. "I'm guessing this means she's right." He shoved Isaac's shoulder forward, putting space between them. Isaac swung around and came face to face with Percy, clutching a baseball bat. But he was positive his cousin had a blade at his back only moments before... Which meant that Percy had hidden his knife somewhere on his person. And was_ very_ talented with a blade.

"Yeah," Isaac admitted.

"How dare you," Percy snapped. "How dare you come near my mother. Gods, I've been living under the same roof with you for months. This is ridiculous. The whole time, I've been living in the same house as a monster."

Isaac took a step back. "I'm a human, too," he said, hurt. "I'm only a monster under the full moon."

Percy snorted. "What, like a werewolf?"

Isaac hesitated.

"You aren't kidding," Percy realized. He grabbed a kitchen chair and took a seat. "Wow. Okay."

"Okay?" Isaac asked, unable to believe his ears. That was pretty fast for him to snap to that acceptance. Literally minutes ago, his cousin had been threatening him at knife point. "You're not... going to bludgeon me with your baseball bat?"

"Bat...? Oh," Percy said, casting a glance at his bat like he didn't recognize how it got there. "Yeah. That. No, I don't think so. But you better start explaining."

So Isaac sat down with Percy and laid it all out for him: that Isaac was a werewolf, and that he wasn't intending to hurt anybody. Especially not Aunt Sally, he stressed, which calmed down Percy a lot. Then he explained the Alpha pack—what they were, and told him that Ethan and Aiden were part of it and up to no good.

Percy considered that for a while. "I don't buy it," he said. "Ethan and Aiden seem plenty nice to me. Yeah, okay. Sure. They're werewolves. You're a werewolf, too. I don't think that's really merit for hating their guts."

It was the kind of rational logic that had gone out the window when Kali ran Derek through the chest with a metal pipe. "You... you're serious?" Isaac sputtered.

"Well... I've got a really big family," Percy explained. "And sometimes, people in the family fight. And sometimes people in the family turn out to be really messed up. But other times, they just turn out to be really misunderstood. Take this guy, Luke Castellan. I guess you could say we're second cousins. Anyway, I spent a lot of time thinking Luke was this terrible guy, that he was going to get me killed and he was going to steal my girl. But then..." Percy got a far away look in his eyes. "Anyway, people aren't always what you expect them to be," he amended, finishing his sentence. "So I promised myself I'd judge people on what I saw, not what others did."

"And what happened to Luke Castellan?" Isaac prompted.

Percy stared at the table. "He died a few months ago," he admitted. Then he looked up and met Isaac's eye. "Family can be really messed up sometimes, but it's still family. And that applies to you, too."

Isaac wasn't quite sure what to make of that, but it seemed pretty obvious it was better to be with Percy than against Percy. Maybe his cousin had some infuriating habits of seeing the good in the bad guys, but was that such a bad quality, after all? He certainly was fiercely loyal.

"So you're going to fight them?" Percy asked.

Isaac nodded. "I can tell Scott and Derek are planning something. They're trying to keep me out of it, but... It's my fight, too."

Percy looked like he was weighing his options. "Maybe I should come, too," Percy said.

But Isaac shook his head. "The Alphas are too tough for you and your baseball bat," he told his cousin, who made an amused sound. "I'm not kidding. We'll handle this."

"I don't want to see any of my friends get killed," Percy said. "I've had enough of that for a lifetime." And he caught Isaac's eye, a sort of steely resolve in it. "Bring me with you."

* * *

"Where are you going?" Isaac asked Scott, who turned around looking guilty. Busted. He _had_ tried to give Isaac the slip to go see the Alpha pack.

"Aahh... I was going to get some food to eat," Scott lied poorly.

"Oh, cool, I'll come with you."

"Nah, dude, it's okay. I can eat alone," Scott tried to assure him.

"What are you getting?" Isaac asked.

Scott bit his lip. "Uh... Mexican?"

"Dude. I love Mexican," he said enthusiastically and gave Scott a look that said he wasn't fooling anyone.

Scott sighed. "Okay, fine. It's the Alphas." He dropped his voice so as not to wake a sleeping Percy on the couch. "We're meeting them at the abandoned mall. It's like a... preemptive strike."

"Yeah, I know," Isaac said. "You're a terrible liar. Let's go."

"Is it okay to just leave him here?" Scott asked, gesturing to Percy, who snored and rolled over. He was drooling in his sleep. Isaac rolled his eyes.

"We can't bring him," Isaac said. "He'll just get himself killed."

* * *

Percy was woken by someone slapping his cheek. "Wake up. Hey. _Hey_," a voice was insisting. "Percy. Come on, this is important."

He jerked upright and slammed his head against Thalia's, sending both of them recoiling in pain. Percy let out a shout of surprise and grabbed his forehead. "How did you get in here?"

"Your cousin and his friend forgot to lock the door when they left," she said, shrugging like it was no big deal. "I let myself in."

"They left?" Suddenly, Percy was wide awake. "Styx. We have to find them. If what Isaac told me is right, they're going to try and force a fight with the Alpha pack."

"That's not what I came here about," Thalia said, but then she relented. "Fine. We go track down your dumb friends. We save their asses. Then you and I have a talk. Something important is happening."

Percy nodded and grabbed the nearest sweatshirt to throw on, not really listening to his cousin. "Sure, fine," he agreed. "Can we just go?"

* * *

It seemed like the kid in the hoodie came out of nowhere in the mall. One second, Scott and Isaac were trying to catch their breath on the floor, and Cora's neck was underneath the foot of the female Alpha, and the next second Kali was bouncing away on the floor. A guy with the hood on his sweatshirt pulled up and a bandanna tied around his nose and mouth was standing behind her, his foot outstretched from what must have been an amazing kick. In his hand was clutched a baseball bat.

A moment later, arrows began to fly from the ceiling. Scott craned his neck up, catching a glimpse of Allison, just as another arrow flew past him in the other direction. It nailed the Alpha twins in their conjoined shoulder and they split apart, roaring angrily. He spun around to try and see who was up there, but there was only a shadowy figure crouching in the rafters.

Scott moved to help Derek off the ground as hoodie guy smashed the handle of his bat into the nose of Deucalion, who growled fiercely and raked his claws across the guy's chest, shredding open several holes. Instead of dropping back from what had to be a serious injury, the guy drove his bat into Deucalion's chest. Scott blinked in confusion as the bat seemed to change from wood to a glowing sword before his eyes as Deucalion roared furiously and clawed at the bloody gash on his chest. "Fool," he snarled, throwing hoodie guy across the room.

Derek was already up, ready to attack Deucalion when Ennis slammed into him. The two wrestled for a moment near the edge, but then Kali grabbed Scott from behind. She threw an arm over his neck, cutting off his air supply. Just as Scott started to see spots, he felt Kali be torn off his back. When he turned, Isaac had planted his foot on her chest and was stomping down hard.

There was a shout, and Scott turned around to see Derek and Ennis fall over the railing of the balcony, tumbling down into space.

The battle froze.

"Get out of here," Boyd ordered, shoving a stunned Scott toward the door. Hoodie guy was staring down Deucalion, neither of them moving. "We lost, okay? Let's go!" Kali had gone scampering after the bodies. Both Ethan and Aiden looked just as surprised as Scott felt.

As they left, Scott got one more glance at the back of hoodie guy's head before the stranger took off in the opposite direction, heading deeper into the mall. Whoever he was, he couldn't have come at a better time. The strangest thing was, Scott felt like he should have recognized him from somewhere.

* * *

Percy breathed out a sigh of relief and put his hands on his knees, panting hard. It looked like he had lost the Alphas... finally, he couldn't help but think as he tore off the hoodie. He and Thalia had split up for a better chance at escaping and while Thalia had the uncanny ability to disappear into the trees like a deer, Percy just ran like a clunky sack of potatoes. He had veered into the woods in the hope it would get the wolves off his scent, and so far it had worked. Not for the first time, he found himself wishing that he could have brought Blackjack with when he came to California, but his pegasus was back at Camp Halfblood, relaxing in the stables.

Never had Percy missed home so much as now.

He was hot and sweaty, and Percy waded into the forest stream to cool off. When he'd realized what Isaac was up to, he'd been unable to think of anything besides helping his family. Call it his fatal flaw, maybe, but he didn't want to see those important to him get hurt. And no matter what Isaac tried to tell him, he didn't want to see Isaac hurt the twins. When friends from two different cabins started having a rivalry flare up, Percy would always plant himself squarely in the middle, trying to keep the peace. It was his nature, as a son of Poseidon, to try and go with the flow. Stabbing Deucalion had been probably not the most impartial move ever, but then again, he had little doubt the werewolf wouldn't bounce back in a few days.

The cold water was almost jarring and Percy was reminded that it was already late November and that even if no snow was falling, it was still not exactly the kind of weather you wanted to be out in the middle of the night, shirtless and wearing a pair of now wet jeans. That was remedied easily enough, and Percy dried out his pants just by willing it before splashing some water on his face to get off the sweat.

"There you are," Thalia said, and Percy jumped. He hadn't heard her approach—as usual, Thalia was like a scary predator when she entered the woods. She didn't even look like she'd broken a sweat. Annoying as Hades. "I've been looking for you for forty five minutes."

"Well, I've been running for the last hour," Percy said. "So I might have been a little hard to find."

"We ditched the Alphas," she said. "For now. Come on."

Despite his aching limbs, Percy sighed and grabbed his sweatshirt off the muddy embankment. Now it had three claw slashes through the fabric, which was too bad. It was his lucky hoodie, and he was going to have to throw it out. Of course, Deucalion had been in for a surprise when he tried to rip out Percy's heart and was stopped by his rock hard skin. Sometimes, the curse of Achilles was pretty handy. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Artemis was recalled by my dad," she said, folding her arms and heading up the hill.

"I mean, it's almost the winter solstice," Percy pointed out. "That's hardly a big deal."

"In, like, a month," Thalia shot back. "And it's something that she was really worried about. She told me she couldn't say—me!" Thalia added, raising her arms in annoyance. Percy wondered how often Thalia was out of the loop, and was willing to guess it was pretty rare. She sure looked surprised Artemis might not fill her in on everything. "I mean, I'm her lieutenant!" Thalia added, looking at Percy for confirmation that this was insane. He made a sympathetic noise of agreement so she'd keep telling him what was happening. "Anyway, she told me that she didn't know when she'd be back but that I was in charge until she returned."

Percy shrugged. "That all sounds fine," he said. "So the gods are having a meeting."

"No, Percy, it is _not _fine," she said, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Don't you get it? Something's going wrong. Can you remember the last time the gods had an emergency meeting like this?"

He tried to remember. Probably some time during the Titan war, but... Those had never been quite so secret. "No, not really," he admitted.

"Exactly. So I won't be in town anymore," Thalia added, and Percy jerked his head up to look at her. "Don't _freak_. Artemis told me that we should stick close to New York for now. We might even stay at camp. But I hope not," she muttered darkly. "Try and keep your head down, cousin."

"Yeah, you stay safe," Percy said.

"Please. I'm not the one who you need to worry about," she pointed out, rolling her eyes at him. "Come with me. I've got one last thing to do before I leave town."

"What?" Percy asked, curious.

"Do you know where Allison Argent lives?"

* * *

"Is he dead?" Isaac finally asked, once the two of them reached Scott's house. They had driven back from the mall together in silence, but Isaac was no longer able to take the quiet between them. "Derek. Did the fall kill him?"

Scott closed his eyes and killed the engine. "I don't think he was getting back up, no," he said. "Maybe. Probably. I don't know."

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight," Isaac admitted, jumping out of the car. "That would have gone so much worse if we hadn't left when we did."

Scott nodded and rubbed his jaw. "I didn't realize how outmatched we were." He headed up the front walk to their front door and hesitated. "Did we close the door behind us?"

Isaac tried to remember. "Pretty sure, yeah."

"Well, it's open now," Scott said, and when Isaac looked at the door he saw that yes, it was open about an inch. He studied the darkened windows for any sign of an invader. The boys glanced at each other and Scott held a finger to his lips before flinging open the door and baring his fangs.

The living room was empty. No one was inside and as Isaac sniffed around, he realized that there was another notable absence. Yeah, the living room was empty... In fact, Percy had left the couch and vanished altogether. Down the hall, he could only hear one heart beat from Mrs. McCall. His cousin wasn't in the house.

"Do you think he tried to follow us?" Isaac asked, turning on the lights in the living room.

"I don't know," Scott said. He rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand and winced. There was a cut on his side, Isaac realized, and it wasn't closing up. "Should we look for him?"

"You should sit down," Isaac ordered, and went into the kitchen to get a wet rag. When he returned, Scott had peeled off his shirt and was studying the cut with a morbid fascination. "It's because it's from an Alpha, right?" he asked.

"I don't know," Scott admitted, accepting the rag and cleaning off the bloody area.

"Percy won't be in any trouble," Isaac decided. "We can sit up and wait for him, but you're not really in any condition to go out looking for him right now. And I'm not going to leave you."

So the two boys sat down on the couch and waited for the door to open, which it didn't for another two hours. Isaac was starting to doze off to sleep—Scott had already gone that direction and was sawing logs next to him—when the door creaked open and in crept a disheveled looking Percy Jackson without a shirt on. "Percy, what the hell?" Isaac asked, too confused by the state of his cousin to interrogate him. "Why are you dressed like that? It's freezing outside!"

Percy blinked at him. "You're awake still? It's three AM," he said.

"Yeah, I'm up waiting for you," Isaac shot back. Beside him, Scott began to stir.

It was with some relief that Isaac noted Percy wasn't carrying a baseball bat and didn't have any scratches on his bare stomach. He'd begun to worry that perhaps Percy _had_ been there after all, and that it had been his cousin as the mysterious hoodie guy, but now he could see that was impossible. Unless Percy had already healed up with some supernatural healing, but the scratches on hoodie guy were from an Alpha and wouldn't have gone away so quickly.

"Well, you can go to sleep. I just wanted to... go for a walk," Percy lied poorly. He didn't need to be a werewolf to tell that Percy was clearly BS-ing him. His cousin gave the floor a shifty stare.

"Dressed like that, for two hours?" Scott pointed out, now awake enough to see how weird Percy looked. "Dude."

"Okay, Thalia needed to talk. She's leaving town," he said, holding up his hands in defeat.

"Hasn't she heard of a phone? And what's _she _doing up so early?" Isaac persisted, refusing to let the subject drop.

"It's... family stuff. Okay? Can we let it drop now, please?" Percy asked. "Besides, I think both of you have figured out Thalia isn't exactly normal. So don't expect her to act normally."

There was no denying that. The boys exchanged glances. Scott asked, "What _is_ Thalia? Some kind of monster hunter?"

"You're not wrong," Percy allowed, kicking off a pair of muddy sneakers. Had he been out in the woods? "Look, I'm beat. I won't ask where _you _guys were tonight if you leave _my _evening alone. Deal?"

Isaac hesitated, because he had the feeling Percy knew _exactly _what they were doing tonight, but Scott bobbed his head in agreement. "Deal."

"Thanks. Now I'm going to sleep for the next fifteen hours. Good luck at your cross country meet tomorrow or whatever," Percy said, and he pulled the blanket off of Scott and Isaac and proceeded to curl up in an arm chair and fall asleep. Within seconds, he was drooling.

"You've got a really weird cousin," Scott said, and Isaac was forced to agree.

It looked like Percy was intending to make good on his promise of sleeping for fifteen hours, because the next morning when the two boys were getting ready to get on the bus for the meet, he was in the exact same position on the arm chair. Mrs. McCall saw him and shook her head. "Teenage boys," was all she would say. "Oh, well, it _is_ the weekend."

Isaac was surprised Mrs. McCall hadn't noticed her son's bleeding wound, which had _not _closed up overnight and was, in fact, looking worse than before. Then again, Scott was going out of his way to hide it with a thick sweat shirt. As they started for the door, Isaac grabbed Scott's gym bag off his shoulder so he wouldn't have to strain himself. "You'll make it worse," Isaac said, and Scott let him help.

* * *

Lydia had thought that Allison was crazy for picking up Percy Jackson before they followed the school bus, and frankly, Allison was starting to wonder that herself. He'd answered the door, looking bleary eyed and wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. His hair was uncombed and Allison didn't doubt he'd been asleep seconds before she'd rung the doorbell. But when she'd said, "Come on. I think Scott might be in trouble," he'd found a green button down shirt and orange tee shirt advertising Camp Halfblood (which was both an interesting fashion choice _and _name for a summer camp) and followed her out the door, climbing into the backseat obediently. He'd fallen back asleep quickly.

Of course, the fact that she'd decided Percy might be useful to have along had a lot to do with how he and his cousin had showed up outside her window the night before.

She hadn't been home for an hour after fleeing the mall behind Scott, Isaac, Cora, and Boyd, and Allison had been unable to sleep. Instead, she was trying to distract herself by busily checking Facebook and studying for the math test on Tuesday. Then there had been a tapping at her window. When she'd looked up, she'd nearly screamed but had clamped a hand over her mouth. Mysterious Thalia was perched on the fire escape outside her apartment window, precariously balancing on the railing instead of just standing like a normal person. A second hand anxiety taking over, Allison threw open her window and hauled Thalia inside. The girl was wearing her bow and quiver (unsurprisingly) and a small pack as well, like she was ready to go camping. She was still wearing her leather jacket and tiara combo.

"How did you get here?" Allison hissed at her.

Thalia grinned. "I climbed up."

"No, I mean how did you find where I _live_," she rephrased, getting angrier by the second.

"Oh. Well, Percy showed me where your building was and I just had to check all of the windows to find your apartment." Thalia looked like a preening bird, _very_ proud of her accomplishment.

"Percy's here, too?" Allison went to the window and stared down to the front walk where a shirtless Percy Jackson gave her a wave from the curb. He flashed a thumbs up at her. Allison regretted ever asking him for a ride home the day her car had been having its oil changed. "What are you doing? It's two in the morning!" And then she turned back to Thalia. "It _was_ you tonight, wasn't it?"

When the hooded guy showed up and started laying waste to Deucalion, Allison had noticed another archer in the rafters of the mall. And when she'd been hesitating about staying to cover the hoodie guy, who wasn't running with the rest of them, she'd locked eyes with the figure in the darkness. They had come to a silent agreement then, and Allison had followed Scott out of the mall. But there was only one other archer she could think of in town right now...

Thalia nodded. Of course it had been her. "Got it in one. I came by to tell you it's your last chance. We're leaving town, tonight."

Allison blinked. "Aren't you going to stay and get rid of that 'evil' you told me about?"

It looked like Thalia was trying not to grind her teeth in anger. "Things have changed," she said tensely. "Believe me, I'd love to. But I have my orders. I don't get to choose where the Hunters go. So, have you thought about my offer any more?"

"You made your offer, like, twelve hours ago," Allison pointed out.

"Fair enough. But this is the sort of thing you would _know_, isn't it?" Thalia offered her a thin smile. "So, what is it?"

For a brief moment, Allison considered saying yes. She would have loved to climb out that window and follow Thalia into the night and run around the world, saving people and killing monsters. It was definitely a seductive life. But at the same time, she had to think of her life here. It might kill her dad if she ran away. And there was Scott to consider...

Thalia looked in her eyes. "I recognize that look. Oh gods, you're in love," she said, like it was an insult. "That changes things."

"Hunters don't love?" Allison asked.

"We give up men. Artemis isn't the goddess of hookups and male supremacy, you know." Thalia sighed. "If you fall in love, you give up what you are."

"That sounds lonely," Allison said.

Thalia inclined her head. "Maybe. But I don't think there's anything worse than the feeling of a broken heart." She shook her head sadly. "You would have been a great Hunter, you know. You could have replaced me, someday."

"But it doesn't change things," Allison said.

"No." Thalia headed back for the window. "Oh, and before I forget... Percy's hoping you could wash something for him. He doesn't want Isaac to find it. I'm sure you understand." She tossed Allison a sweaty hoodie. Allison wrinkled her nose. It didn't exactly smell great. Her first instinct was to toss it back, but then Allison noticed the claw marks on the front. She ran her fingers over it and looked up at Thalia in surprise.

Crouching on the windowsill, Thalia winked. "See you around," she said, and then she was gone. Allison had not gone back to sleep that night.

As Allison sped down the highway, the bus about ten cars ahead of them, she realized that on some level, she trusted Percy Jackson. It was inexplicable, and it was confusing. But last night had told her that Percy was a good guy. Someone she could trust.

She just hoped she wasn't wrong.

"I think he's actually in a coma," Lydia complained, and slammed her textbook shut. "I can't study while he's snoring like that. Remind me _why_ we got him before we left?"

* * *

**A/N: Chapter 3! I was sick today, so I had plenty of time to laze about and work. Of the 6K words for this chapter, there were 2K more that I junked. I'll be back at school starting tomorrow, so the next update probably won't come until Friday or Saturday. Sorry! I already have exams and it's the first week back :(**

**If you liked it or disliked it, please leave a review with your thoughts! I do read the reviews and I appreciate them a lot, even if you have criticisms. Thanks! **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: this chapter will cover the events of the Teen Wolf ep. Motel California.**

* * *

Percy didn't wake up until they reached the rest stop, and when he finally sat up all he said was, "Is there a bathroom?"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Sleeping Beauty awakens. If you go inside, you'll find one."

"Thanks," Percy said, and fumbled a minute with the door handle before stumbling out into the parking lot. Lydia followed him. Already, Allison had gone inside to find her werewolf boyfriend... sorry, _ex_ boyfriend, Lydia reminded herself. Now that they were literally running on fumes, Lydia had resigned herself to being stuck at this rest stop in the middle of nowhere with weird Percy Jackson. It was hard to imagine someone as abnormal as Percy was from somewhere as cool as New York. Hopefully, he was the freak that proved the rule.

She had been intending to wait outside the bathrooms for Allison to come back, but moments after Percy walked in the door, he stuck his head back outside. "Uh... get Allison," he said quickly.

The look on his face made Lydia not ask any questions. Instead she nodded and went into the girl's bathroom, where Allison was drying her hands. "Come on," she ordered.

The two rushed into the boy's bathroom to find Percy attempting to clean out Scott's cut with some wet toilet paper and Stiles insisting that, "We've already tried that, it's just not closing."

"_Why _does it look like that?" Lydia demanded, folding her arms. Allison let out a gasp at the sight of the black cut that appeared to getting infected. "Aren't your werewolf powers supposed to make this stuff heal?"

"Lydia!" Stiles exclaimed, and cut a worried look at Percy.

"What?" Lydia snapped. "He's in here, isn't he? I assumed he knew."

"I do," Percy replied and stood up, throwing the bloody black toilet paper in the garbage. "Your powers normally fix this kind of thing? Handy."

"It's from an Alpha," Scott said, but Lydia didn't think he sounded too sure. "Wounds from the Alphas don't close up so easily."

"Chances are, it's a somatoformic injury," Lydia decided. When she was met with the blank stares of her friends, she let out a sigh.

"Tomato forming huh?" Percy asked, scratching his head.

Lydia shook her head in disgust. "Do none of you read? It means the injury's in his head."

Thankfully, Stiles was quick to jump to agree with her. "You just feel bad because you think you let Derek die," he suggested. "Dude, it's not your fault."

Percy looked a little side swept by that news. "Who is Derek?" he asked, but no one answered him. He ducked his head and rubbed his neck. "Got it. Shutting up." Lydia reached into her purse and pulled out a tiny sewing kit—useful for if a button popped off on a shirt at school. Good thing she'd grabbed her purse when Allison got her this morning. Otherwise, she might not be able to help out.

"If we sew it up, your body will _think _it's healing. Which will make you actually heal," she spelled it out plainly. The editing of words with too many syllables was apparently going to be necessary if she talked around Percy. Whatever he was, he sure didn't seem like he had a very high IQ.

* * *

Back on the bus, Scott was surprised when Percy Jackson of all people sat down next to him. "Uh, hey," he said. "We're talking now." He cut a glance to Stiles in annoyance... and mostly confusion. What was he doing?

"How is your cut?" Percy asked, apparently not interested in whatever they were doing. "Closing up?"

Scott lifted his shirt and studied the injury. Black blood was still pulsing out between the stitches, and it was throbbing like no other... maybe even worse. Lydia's theory seemed to have proven wrong. "It's much better," he lied, for the benefit of Stiles and the others within ear shot. It was going to have to be a personal cross to bear, he supposed. He locked eyes with Percy, who was the only person with a good enough view to see the injury in full. Percy obviously could tell, but he didn't say anything.

Instead, he reached in his pocket and dug out a plastic bag of food. "Glad to hear it," Percy replied calmly, and took out a square of the yellow stuff. Scott couldn't tell what it was—it didn't look like any fruit or vegetable he'd ever seen, but somehow it didn't exactly look processed. "Want a piece of gum?" he asked casually, holding out the square to Scott.

Scott accepted the square and gave Percy a confused look. Whatever he'd just picked up, it was definitely _not _gum. "Thanks," he finally told him, and popped it in his mouth.

"Hey, can I have a piece?" Stiles asked, leaning over the back of the chair.

"No way," Percy said, stuffing the plastic bag back in his pocket. "I only have one left."

"Oh, come on," Stiles complained, but Scott didn't move to contradict him. The square tasted exactly like his mom's birthday cakes—the ones she would frost so that there was almost more frosting than cake, the way they both liked it. And it was weird, but as he chewed and swallowed, Scott realized that the throbbing in his side was fading away.

Percy was studying him carefully, he realized, and Scott nodded his thanks at him. In response, Percy flashed a thumbs up and moved out of the seat so that he was up near Ethan and Danny. A moment later, Scott checked his injury. The black seemed like it was already fading. Whatever Percy had given him, it was helping a lot. He'd have to tell the others later—when they weren't on the bus. Or maybe it was better not to say anything at all... After all, Percy didn't seem like he wanted anyone to know what the weird magic gum he had really did. Maybe it was a better idea to keep quiet about Percy.

In any case, Scott had a feeling that it wasn't a bad idea to be on Percy's good side.

* * *

Percy didn't know what it was about Lydia, but when she got off the bus and announced that she didn't like this place, it made him uncomfortably reminded Rachel Elizabeth Dare's uncanny prophecies... and that had been _before _she'd been possessed by the spirit of Delphi.

"I don't think the people that own this motel like this place," Allison pointed out, trying to laugh off her friend's comment. But she seemed uneasy about it, too. "Come on, it's just for a night."

As Percy strode past the two of them—the only odd one out, getting a solo room—he overheard Lydia mutter that "a lot can happen in one night". A chill went down his spine. Yes, he thought darkly, yes, it could.

Giving Scott ambrosia had been the only thing he could think of doing when he saw the state of that cut. An ugly infection like that... he didn't care about whatever tomato forming solution Lydia had thought up. It clearly hadn't been working. Besides, if what he and Thalia had talked about last night was the case, it wouldn't hurt werewolves at all.

According to Thalia, Artemis was more than a little fond of wolves. She'd made the first werewolf out of a man who had served her well and had asked for a blessing from her in return. The goddess's influence made the werewolves much different from demigods... but Thalia had revealed that several girls in the Hunt were, in fact, werewolves and used ambrosia without harm after an injury. It wasn't as potent for healing, and they could die from a lot less than it would take to hurt a demigod, but he was sure that Scott was in a situation desperate enough that this was alright.

Now he just didn't know how to explain it to them.

At this point, Percy was seeing the _truth _as a much easier explanation than whatever they had already found out.

He tried to distract himself from an inevitable and uncomfortable explanation that was undoubtedly going to happen soon by watching TV, but the channels were all static. He went into the bathroom to use the shower and found that his bathroom didn't have running water. Annoyed, Percy opened the faucet and concentrated. A moment later, the water began to spew out in a rusty red color that looked too much like blood. He quickly changed his mind and slammed the faucet off.

Percy resigned himself to an early bedtime. With his curse of Achilles, he was tired enough all the time that he hardly spent _any _time awake. But for once, when he got under the blankets, he didn't drift off to sleep in the first five minutes. In fact, Percy was lying in bed for a half hour, restless, before he gave up.

Something about this place was making him uneasy.

He decided to get some snacks. That always calmed him down—eating—and Percy always thought the best thing for a nervous mind was a full stomach. He headed down the flight of stairs only to find someone had smashed out the glass in the vending machines. Styx, but this place was a dump. Shrugging, Percy helped himself to a candy bar and started back up the stairs.

That was when he heard a power tool rev up and someone started screaming.

Forgetting the Twix bar on the floor, Percy sprinted up the last ten steps and followed the yelling to what looked like an empty hotel room. There he found Ethan in a trance like state attempting to cut a hole in his stomach with a power tool and Stiles wrestling with him to get it away.

Percy didn't stop to wonder _why_ and just dove right at his friend. "Ethan!" he shouted, gripping the blade itself. He wasn't worried about his own hands, and if he could put that between Ethan and the blade... The spinning stopped and he realized it had been unplugged by Lydia. Good, he thought, throwing the saw toward the floor. To his horror, Ethan snapped out claws and raised them to tear his stomach open on his own, power tool forgotten.

"No!" he yelled, and both he and Stiles lunged at him, each gripping an arm. Ethan stumbled toward the floor and slammed against a space heater on the floor. He let out a startled cry and sat up, looking confused.

"What the hell?" Ethan said, looking at his hands in shock as the situation seemed to present itself to him.

Percy breathed out a sigh of relief and hauled his friend up to his feet before grabbing him in a hug. "You just tried to kill yourself," he said. It was a moment before Ethan patted him on the back in response. Apparently, he wasn't so touchy feel-y with his friends. Percy let him go and turned to the others. "What's going on?"

"It's the werewolves," Stiles realized at once. "We have to find Boyd and Isaac."

"Where's Scott?" Allison demanded.

"I left him in our room. He was just staring out the window," Stiles told her, and his eyes widened. "You don't think he was already going a little crazy?"

Percy glanced to Ethan, who shoved his way past them toward the door. "I should watch him," Percy started to say, but Allison turned to him with a grim look on her face.

"No way," she said. "We might need you to help stop some more suicides. I don't know what we would have done without you."

He hesitated before nodding. "Go find Scott and check on him. Scream if he's in trouble. I'm going to look for Isaac."

"We'll come with," Stiles decided. "Isaac and Boyd are sharing a room."

The three went up the next flight of stairs to find Isaac and his friend Boyd. Percy had never spent time with Boyd outside of the one time Isaac introduced them—the first and last time Percy ever met any of Isaac's friends for the next few weeks, until they had made up—and even then, Boyd had been hard to read. But if what Stiles and Lydia were explaining to him in bits and confused pieces was true, it was likely both Boyd and Isaac were suffering from hallucinations of some trauma. And Percy had a very good idea of what might be traumatizing his cousin.

They burst in the door and took a quick look around. The two beds were both neatly made and empty, as if no one lived here at all. Percy hurried into the bathroom and nearly had a heart attack at what he saw.

In the bathtub, Boyd had filled it up and pulled a safe over himself, trapping himself under the water. Of course, if the werewolf had struggled, he would have been able to move the safe off his chest. Unfortunately, Boyd's open eyes were staring vacantly up and Percy feared that it was already too late.

Stiles shoved past him and started jiggling the drain handle. "He's clogged the drain somehow," he shouted at Percy. "Help me move the safe!"

Percy ignored him and stuck a hand in the water, taking Boyd's pulse while Stiles struggled with the safe. "Stop. It's not going to move," he said, relieved by the fact that Boyd was still alive. He kept his hand on the werewolf, knowing it would keep Boyd breathing for now.

"What do you want me to do, then?" Stiles demanded. "Let him die?"

"I'm saying, figure out a way to wake him up," Percy ordered. "He won't die for now. Okay?"

"What do you mean, he won't die?" Lydia snapped. "He's been underwater for who knows how long!"

Percy hesitated. If there wasn't a way to snap Boyd out of his trance... If he didn't figure out one... "Okay," he said slowly. "Okay. Fine." Then he stepped away from the bathtub. "Step back," he told Stiles, who was still jerking the safe to no avail.

"Screw you," Stiles spat furiously.

_Don't say I didn't warn you_, Percy thought. Then he raised his hands and stared at the water, narrowing his eyes and _willing _it to rise. He didn't normally control water like this... It was easier to adjust a tide or a current... it was easier to breathe in the water than it was to lift it straight up in the air. He narrowed his eyes and focused intently. If he didn't do this now, Boyd might die, he told himself.

Slowly, slowly, a trickle of water rose out of the bathtub and started spiraling into the air. Percy smiled and jerked his hands up sharply. All at once, the water in the bath surged up to the ceiling and spilled down on the tile floor at his feet—soaking Stiles, who sputtered in confusion.

Silence in the room. He turned to see Lydia backing away from him. She hit a heater and jerked away from it sharply. "Heat," she realized, "that's how we wake them up. It woke up Ethan and we can get Boyd up, too."

Boyd roared angrily in the tub and flung the safe against the wall, shattering some of the tile. He flung himself out of the bathtub and came at Percy. Despite the murderous intent on his face, he still had that empty look in his eyes that told Percy he wasn't in control still.

"He's up," Percy had time to say before he ducked out of the charging Boyd's way. Boyd had too much momentum and crashed against the wall heater, coming away with a confused expression and a sizzled hand. He sized up the situation in a moment and stared at the three of them in confusion. Boyd slumped back against the wall and closed his eyes.

"What the hell was that?" Stiles finally demanded, facing Percy with an angry expression on his face.

He'd gone and done it now, Percy thought remorsefully. Of course, if it had saved Boyd's life, he didn't regret anything. But there were going to be a lot of hard questions to follow and he didn't think he'd be able to answer them very well. He hesitated before snapping his fingers and meeting Stiles' eyes. "I unclogged the drain," he told him. "Boyd spilled the water on the floor," he added, facing Lydia. Both of their eyes fogged over briefly.

"He made that mess," Stiles agreed.

Lydia said nothing.

"Earlier with the hand saw, the power was already off. That's why it didn't cut me," Percy added, remembering to cover his tracks from then as well. "Remember? Lydia unplugged it."

Stiles nodded at that, as well. That should take care of everything, Percy thought.

"We'll talk after we find Scott and Isaac," he promised, hoping the trick with the Mist would stick.

There was a whimper from the other room and everyone froze.

"Did you hear that?" Lydia asked, but Percy was heading back into the bedroom already, and he ducked his head under the apron of the bed so that he came face to face with his cousin.

"I found Isaac," Percy announced as his cousin retreated away from him.

* * *

Ethan nearly tripped over Percy when he woke up the next morning.

He and Danny had talked uncomfortably before they both fell asleep in separate beds. Needless to say, him running out had put a bit of a damper on the mood of the evening. So he'd woken up extra early to find breakfast for the two of them, as an apology, and practically kicked Percy Jackson.

Percy woke up and jumped to his feet right away, looking embarrassed. "Did I fall asleep?" he mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning in a way that said he definitely did.

"What are you doing here?" Ethan whispered, closing the door to his hotel room so that Danny wouldn't be woken up.

Percy stretched and gave Ethan a friendly grin—the same grin that had made Ethan instinctively like Percy from when he and Aiden had started hanging around him. Yes, they had only made friends with Percy because the dumb teenager was a great way to have power over Lahey. But Percy also was the kind of guy who made you want to laugh at his jokes and hang out after school with him no matter how busy you were. "I was worried about you," he said, and then dropped his voice. "I wasn't sure if you'd try and kill yourself again."

It was Ethan's turn to be the embarrassed one. "Thanks," he said awkwardly.

"Don't mention it. It was mostly Stiles, Allison, and Lydia who really saved you," he deflected, but Ethan remembered it differently. He gripped Percy's wrist suddenly and studied his hands. Not even a scratch from where he was sure the rotating saw should have cut off his fingers. Seeing the look on his face, Percy laughed uncomfortably. "So, you remember that, huh?" he asked and gently pulled his hand back. "Let's just say I'm not so easily hurt, huh?"

"You're not being totally honest with me," Ethan accused.

"Neither are you," Percy pointed out, and shrugged. "But I still consider you a friend." He yawned again and rubbed the dark circles under his eyes.

"Guessing you didn't sleep very well," Ethan said, almost jokingly.

Percy shook his head. "I had terrible dreams last night," he admitted. "I think there's something I need to take care of."

The wheels in Ethan's head were turning. If Percy wasn't cut by _that_, it was possible that he wouldn't be hurt by Deucalion's nails, either. He'd _thought _he recognized the scent off the hoodie guy the other night... But that, Ethan decided, was the sort of thing that was best kept to himself. If Deucalion knew, it wouldn't end well for Percy.

"Hungry?" Ethan asked instead, and Percy's stomach let out a loud growl. They both laughed. "Come on," Ethan told him, "I think there's an all you can eat buffet."

* * *

It was only after the bus rolled away that Stiles noticed one absence. "Where's Percy?" he asked. The others looked around and everyone seemed to notice the disappearance of crazy Percy all at once. It seemed like Jackson was splitsville after all his help last night. "He promised he'd explain," Stiles added in annoyance. "What is he, Clark Kent?"

Scott leaned forward and tapped Ethan on the shoulder. He turned his head around in annoyance. "Where's Percy?" he asked Ethan, who shrugged.

"I bought him breakfast and he told me he had something important to do," Ethan answered, shrugging. "Then he took off."

"On foot?" Stiles exclaimed.

"No, idiot, on horseback. What do you think? He caught the bus," Ethan snapped at Stiles, rolling his eyes.

"Going where?" Scott pressed for more information.

Ethan shook his head. "Didn't say. I asked, but all he'd say was that he'd tell Mrs. Jackson himself and he'd be back in a few days."

Scott leaned back in his chair and looked at Isaac, who had been listening in with rapt attention. Was it like his cousin to vanish randomly, he wanted to ask, but Isaac seemed just as startled by the vanishing act as Scott felt.

There would be plenty of questions for Percy when he got back.

* * *

Isaac was surprised to find Aunt Sally already waiting for him when he got back, cooking some kind of stew on the stove. "You're home earlier than I thought," he said.

She smiled at him warmly. "Well, I hate flying," she admitted. "So I actually decided to drive back."

"From New York?" he asked incredulously. "That's almost 2 days worth of driving."

Aunt Sally shrugged and turned back to stir her pot, chatting cheerfully over her shoulder. "It turned out my meeting with Karen was done by Friday night. Paul didn't know I was going to be in town far enough in advance and his class was taking a trip out of state, so I decided to come back. I wanted to get the car out here, anyways," she told him. "Now we can return that rental at last."

"Did Percy get a hold of you?" Isaac asked.

She nodded. "He's worried about one of his friends getting into some trouble," she said. "He might be gone a little while."

"Does he do this very often?" Isaac wanted to know. "Aunt Sally... Percy's not a normal kid, is he?"

Aunt Sally began to busy herself with chopping carrots. "No, Isaac, he's not," she admitted. "Neither are you, huh?"

Isaac was caught off guard by the assessment. Somehow, Scott had hidden his werewolf nature from his mother for almost a year and Stiles's father was still clueless that anything supernatural was happening even now when there were ritualistic murders happening every few days... But he couldn't hide the fact he was a werewolf from his aunt who had just showed up from out of town? "How did you know?" he asked, wondering if she'd pull a bat on him like Percy had.

Instead of getting angry, Aunt Sally set down her chopping knife and wrapped him up in her arms. She was tiny, compared to Isaac—Percy was much taller than her, but the difference was especially notable now. "Call me a bit more clear sighted than others," Aunt Sally said, winking at him as she pulled away and returned to her soup. "Why don't you chop?" she suggested, nodding at the half finished carrots.

Isaac took over and wondered if that meant she was done with the conversation.

"In any case," Aunt Sally continued, "it'll be just us two for the next few days. What are you hungry for?"

"We're not eating this?" Isaac asked. "It smells great." It really did. Percy hadn't been kidding when he told Mrs. McCall that his mom was a great cook.

Aunt Sally laughed. "No. This is for Melissa McCall. I heard that she let you boys stay at her house this weekend and I thought I owed her one. So I'm going to bring over some soup to say thank you."

It was a nice thought, Isaac had to admit.

So when Aunt Sally declared she was going to take over the soup, he tagged along with her in a beat up old Camaro. As they drove, Aunt Sally talked fondly about the car. "Technically, Paul gave it to Percy," she explained. "He and I don't have a great track record with cars, unfortunately, so I thought it was a very nice present for his 16th birthday." She smiled at Isaac. "Do you have your drivers' license?"

He shook his head. "I never got my permit," he admitted. "My dad didn't think I was a safe driver."

Aunt Sally pursed her lips. "Well," she decided. "We'll have to remedy that, won't we? I'll sign you up for a class after the semester. Then you can use the car, too."

When they arrived at Scott's house, it was Mrs. McCall who answered the door. "Isaac?" she asked in surprise. "Is something wrong?" Then she saw Aunt Sally and opened the door all the way. "Hello, there," she said, sticking out a hand to shake. Aunt Sally shifted the pot into her left arm and shook the hand.

"I'm Sally Jackson, Isaac's aunt," she introduced, positively beaming at Mrs. McCall. "I brought this by to thank you for watching the two of them this weekend."

"Melissa McCall," Mrs. McCall said, and accepted the pot. "That's very kind of you—won't you come in?" she added, stepping back to let them in the house. "Really, you didn't have to go to the trouble."

"No trouble at all," Aunt Sally insisted, as Scott appeared from the hallway, apparently hearing the noises.

"What's up, Isaac?" he asked, looking a little concerned.

"Isaac and his aunt are going to join us for dinner," Mrs. McCall announced to her son.

Aunt Sally hesitated. "Oh, well, I wouldn't want to impose on a family dinner," she started to say, but Mrs. McCall wouldn't hear of it.

"Set the table for two more," she ordered Scott, who grinned at Isaac. "I'll put this back on the stove."

* * *

Percy wasn't much for long bus rides, but this one had to be the worst.

He'd caught the bus out of Paradise, California after saying goodbye to Ethan on Monday, but the frequent stops combined with the fact that he had to trade buses twice and at one point got on the wrong bus, taking him toward Nevada, meant that he didn't get off the bus until early Tuesday morning.

He stumbled off the bus in the same clothes he'd woken up in on Sunday morning when Allison turned up at his house and stretched. Of course, the nightmares he'd had while he was sitting in the cold outside Ethan's room had been more than enough to drive him out of Beacon Hills in search of Nico di Angelo.

The nightmare he kept having over and over was Nico and a girl with curly hair and a scared expression cornered by a snarling wolf. Nico had been trying to explain something to the wolf, but the wolf looked ready to lunge and tear both of them to shreds. In his dream, the wolf had been big enough that it could have made good on that promise _easily_. He shuddered at the memory. Given recent events in Beacon Hills, Percy didn't really think it was a good idea to leave Nico alone while he was seeing a prophetic event of a wolf attack.

But first things first. Percy was pretty sure he smelled terrible. For one thing, he hadn't showered since Saturday morning, easily. Or brushed his teeth since Sunday night. Given some of the furtive looks he was getting, Percy had no doubt people were guessing he was a street walker. He found the first bathroom he could inside a McDonalds and went in to freshen up.

Percy nearly gagged once he got the door locked. The toilet was overflowing with crap and he decided that was better left alone. Instead, he washed his hands and rubbed some of the soap from the dispenser on his face and arms, cleaning off the dirt—and smell, he hoped—before drinking from the sink and rinsing out his teeth.

Then he went where he thought he had the best chance of finding Nico—DOA recording studios downtown, and by extension, the Underworld.

Unfortunately, Percy realized once he arrived, he didn't have any drachmas to pay for a ferry ride into Hades' territory. A notion that didn't sound too bad to him, to be honest. Instead, he approached Charon's desk. He'd bought a nicer Italian suit since Percy had last seen him, and had an extra snooty edge to his glare when he glanced up from his newspaper. "Oh," he sighed. "You're not dead. What do you want?"

"Have you seen Nico lately?" Percy asked.

Charon picked back up the paper and studied it, boredom written all over his face. "I'm sure I haven't. Who, exactly, is Nico?"

"Your boss's son," Percy reminded him, exasperated. "Remember? Hades?"

Around the waiting room, spirits began to rush and wring their hands, checking watches and pounding on the elevator doors.

"Oh. Him," Charon said, and heaved another sigh. "What am I, a babysitter?"

Losing patience quickly, Percy drummed his fingers on the counter. "Just tell me," he said through gritted teeth.

"Fine, fine," Charon agreed at last, and Percy perked up. "He came in alone yesterday. You just missed him. He left this morning with a girl."

"Did she have dark hair?" Percy asked, a bad feeling gathering in his stomach.

Charon shrugged. "How should I remember? Anyway, the punk didn't even _thank _me for ferrying them over and just took off with her. The whelp needs to learn some _manners_. Demigods weren't always so disrespectful, you know..." he grumbled, furiously filling out a crossword puzzle. It was an odd act of aggression.

"You let a spirit leave the Underworld?" Percy demanded. _That _definitely said something was off here. He shook his head in wonder. "You let people _go_?"

Charon bristled in annoyance. "Listen here, brat. I get paid good money to make sure of one thing, and one thing only. Dead go in. Dead don't go out. Sometimes I get you lively ones running in and out, and I can certainly tell the difference between the two."

"So she was alive," Percy clarified, which made even less sense. What was a living person doing in the Underworld? "Well, did he say where he was going?"

"How should I know?" Charon snapped. "Unless you've got the cash to back it up, I don't have any answers for you. So, scram!"

Percy left after that, more confused and more worried than ever.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry the update took longer than usual. I don't know when I'll update next. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


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